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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25140919">Smoke Rising</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Charlotte_Lancer/pseuds/Charlotte_Lancer'>Charlotte_Lancer</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Top Gun (1986), Top Gun: Maverick (2020)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Airplane Crashes, Ambiguous Relationships, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Angst, Gen, Hurt No Comfort, M/M, Major Character Injury, Not Beta Read, Possible Character Death, ambiguous time period</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 02:09:28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>416</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25140919</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Charlotte_Lancer/pseuds/Charlotte_Lancer</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Smoke, rising from a fire then sinking low to the ground, can indicate that a storm is approaching. It was a point that had been firmly instilled into Maverick’s memory early on in his flight training, but until today he had never observed the phenomenon himself.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Tom "Iceman" Kazansky &amp; Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, Tom "Iceman" Kazansky/Pete "Maverick" Mitchell</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>16</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Smoke Rising</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Written for the prompt of "turn to page 98 of the nearest book to you and write a drabble based on the first sentence." Well, the nearest book to me was a SERE manual, of all things, so this quadruple-drabble happened instead.</p><p>The first sentence of this fic is the prompt sentence verbatim.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Smoke, rising from a fire then sinking low to the ground, can indicate that a storm is approaching. It was a point that had been firmly instilled into Maverick’s memory early on in his flight training, but until today he had never observed the phenomenon himself.</p><p> </p><p>He would give anything for that to still be the case, to be blissfully ignorant of what it felt like to run through the sunken smoke of burning engines, near-blind as he made his way towards the wreckage of the downed plane.</p><p> </p><p>Lightning flashed as Maverick reached the plane, illuminating a sight that he knew would haunt him for the rest of his days. Even the pitch-darkness of the smoky night was preferable to what he saw before him. For now, though, there was no time to focus on anything other than action.</p><p> </p><p>The glass of the cockpit was already cracked, and it was quick work to remove enough shattered pieces to reach in. The heat of the fire was almost unbearable, and the metal of Iceman's harness blistered Maverick's fingers as he unfastened the buckles. He ignored the pain, lifting his friend from the plane as gently as he could, and quickly carried him away from the fire.</p><p> </p><p>Maverick's own plane was in better condition- though that wasn't saying much- having been subject to an emergency landing instead of a crash, but there was still little chance of it taking off from the soft, muddy ground of their surroundings. Not that Ice was in any condition to be transported, even if by some miracle Maverick could get them off the ground. Ice was breathing, though it was terrifyingly shallow, but even with the brief flashes of lightning as the only light source, maverick could tell that there were a number of broken bones. He laid Ice out as flat as possible, trying not to worsen any injuries, heartrendingly cognizant of the fact that, if Ice had a neck or spinal injury, one wrong move could lead to permanent consequences.</p><p> </p><p>Maverick had no idea if Iceman had been able to send any sort of distress signal, but Maverick had activated his own emergency beacon before they touched ground, so it was likely that help would arrive soon.</p><p> </p><p>In the dark, though, straining to hear the sounds of Ice’s laboured breathing, with his fingers wrapped around Ice’s wrist to feel that his heart was still beating, every second felt like hours, and every second felt like it might be the last.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Note: it is generally a really bad idea to move someone who may have neck or spinal injuries. Moving them can cause further injury, paralysis, or possibly even death. However, if they are in immediate danger of death from their surroundings (such as those surroundings being literally on fire), it may be necessary to take that risk.</p><p>All feed back is welcome, as always :)</p></blockquote></div></div>
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